OARS funding Agriculture

The overall goal of the Organic Transitions Program (ORG) is to support the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices. NIFA administers the ORG program by determining priorities in U.S. agriculture through Agency stakeholder input processes in consultation with the NAREEEAB. ORG will continue to prioritize environmental services provided by organic farming systems in the area of soil conservation, pollinator health, and climate change mitigation, including greenhouse gases (GHG), as well as the development of educational tools for Cooperative Extension personnel and other agricultural professionals who advise producers on organic practices, and development of cultural practices and other allowable alternatives to substances recommended for removal from the National Organic Program's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. It is expected that all projects will integrate research, education and extension activities, as appropriate to project goals, although some projects may be weighted more heavily than others in one or more of these areas. However, all proposals should have activities and impact in research and at least one of the other areas: education and extension.

The purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservationapproaches and technologies in conjunction with agricultural production.CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies,management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) toagricultural producers, into NRCS technical manuals and guides, or to theprivate sector. CIG generally funds pilotprojects, field demonstrations, and on-farm conservation research. On-farmconservation research is defined as an investigation conducted to answer aspecific applied conservation question using a statistically valid design whileemploying farm-scale equipment on farms, ranches or private forest lands.

Projects supported by the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program will: (1) address a state, regional, national, or international educational need; (2) involve a creative or non-traditional approach toward addressing that need that can serve as a model to others; (3) encourage and facilitate better working relationships in the university science and education community, as well as between universities and the private sector, to enhance program quality and supplement available resources; and (4) result in benefits that will likely transcend the project duration and USDA support.

The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (McGovern-Dole) key objectives are to carry out:1) preschool and primary school food for education programs in foreign countries to improve food security, reduce the incidence of hunger, and improve literacy and primary education, particularly with respect to girls; and, 2) maternal, infant, and child nutrition programs for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and children who are five years of age or younger.

U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is announcing the availability of CIG to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Applications are accepted from eligible entities for projects carried out in the state of Caribbean Area: Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. A total of up to $300,000.00 is available for Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) in FY 2019. All non-federal entities (NFE) and individuals are invited to apply, with the sole exception of federal agencies. Projects may be between one and three years in duration. The maximum award amount for a single award in FY 2019 is $75,000.

The intended outcome of this cooperative agreement is to advance the goal of a national food safety system by supporting and enhancing state food laboratory activities including: 1. Ensuring microbiological and chemical food analyses performed on behalf of the State manufactured food regulatory programs are conducted within the scope of an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory; 2. Strengthening the collaboration between the laboratories and State manufactured food regulatory programs; 3. Increasing the number of State samples collected and analyzed for surveillance purposes annually; 4. Developing a stronger international rapid surveillance system for pathogen traceback through the GenomeTrakr network using a minimum set of metadata fields for all food and environmental isolates; and 5. Providing additional support to the State food laboratories through an outside association to offer trainings, workshops, meetings and other educational resources to awardees under this cooperative agreement and to unfunded laboratories seeking ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.

With the goal of encouraging unique partnerships that support innovative and potentially transformative agricultural research, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is seeking applications for its Seeding Solutions Grants program. The program supports projects that further FFAR's challenge areas; leverage strong partnerships across multiple sectors (private, NGO, government, academia, etc.); contribute to the goal of sustainable food and agriculture; and serve the public by making data open and accessible.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Office of Partnerships and Operational Policy (OPOP), Office of Partnerships (OP), is announcing the availability of up to $2,100,000 in FY 2019 to be awarded under Limited Competition to State animal food regulatory programs.  The intended outcome of this FOA is to advance efforts for a nationally integrated animal food safety system through the implementation and advancement of the Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS) by State animal food regulatory programs. The AFRPS allows for the development of risk-based animal food safety programs by establishing a uniform basis for measuring and improving the performance of State animal food regulatory programs in the Unites States.  By achieving and sustaining implementation of these program Standards, Federal and State food regulatory programs can better direct their regulatory activities toward reducing foodborne illness attributed to animal food safety hazards in animal food material/supply facilities.  Consequently, the safety and security of the United States animal food supply will improve.

The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) seeks to solve critical organic agriculture issues, priorities, or problems through the integration of research, education, and extension activities. The purpose of this program is to fund projects that will enhance the ability of producers and processors who have already adopted organic standards to grow and market high quality organic agricultural products. Priority concerns include biological, physical, and social sciences, including economics. The OREI is particularly interested in projects that emphasize research, education and outreach that assist farmers and ranchers with whole farm planning by delivering practical research-based information. Projects should plan to deliver applied production information to producers. Fieldwork must be done on certified organic land or on land in transition to organic certification, as appropriate to project goals and objectives. Refer to the USDA National Organic Program for organic production standards.

Under this APS, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) will consider applications for the development and dissemination of Supporting Emergency Agriculture Design and Standards (SEADS). Applicant Eligibility Information for this award is described in Section C of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO). Subject to the availability of funds, USAID intends to award a single Cooperative Agreement to a responsible applicant whose application best meets the objectives of this funding opportunity and the selection criteria contained herein. USAID reserves the right to fund one or more or none of the applications submitted.

The purpose of this program is to promote and strengthen the ability of Alaska Native-Serving Institutions and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions to carry out education, applied research, and related community development programs. NIFA intends this program to address educational needs, as determined by each institution, within a broadly defined arena of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines. Priority will be given to those projects that enhance educational equity for underrepresented students; strengthen institutional educational capacities; prepare students for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resource systems of the United States; and maximize the development and use of resources to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs.

Submit an application if you are a successful top-rank junior researcher from abroad, only completed your doctorate with distinction in the last six years, and have published work in prestigious international journals or publishing houses. The Sofja Kovalevskaja Award allows you to spend five years building up a working group and working on a high-profile, innovative research project of your own choice at a research institution of your own choice in Germany.

The purpose of the IR-4 program is to enable the crop protection industry to provide safe, effective, and economical crop protection products for growers and consumers of minor/specialty crops. The crop protection industry cannot justify the costs associated with the research and development, registration, production, and marketing of crop protection products for minor/specialty crops due to the smaller market base and limited sales potential. The IR-4 program provides the assistance needed to ensure that new and more effective crop protection products are developed and made available to minor/specialty crop producers. These efforts require effective collaborations among federal agencies, the crop protection industry, and land-grant colleges and universities.

The purpose of the Crop Protection and Pest Management program is to address high priority issues related to pests and their management using IPM approaches at the state, regional and national levels. The CPPM program supports projects that will ensure food security and respond effectively to other major societal pest management challenges with comprehensive IPM approaches that are economically viable, ecologically prudent, and safe for human health. The CPPM program addresses IPM challenges for emerging issues and existing priority pest concerns that can be addressed more effectively with new and emerging technologies. The outcomes of the CPPM program are effective, affordable, and environmentally sound IPM practices and strategies needed to maintain agricultural productivity and healthy communities

The Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants (SPECA) program seeks to: (a) promote and strengthen secondary education and two-year postsecondary education in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human (FANH) sciences in order to help ensure the existence of a workforce in the United States that's qualified to serve the FANH sciences system; and (b) promote complementary and synergistic linkages among secondary, two-year postsecondary, and higher education programs in the FANH sciences in order to advance excellence in education and encourage more young Americans to pursue and complete a baccalaureate or higher degree in the FANH sciences.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO), the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems in the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO/IOS), and the Division of Computer and Network Systems in the Directorate Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE/CNS), in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) encourage convergent research that transforms existing capabilities in understanding dynamic, near-surface soil processes through advances in sensor systems and modeling. To accomplish this research, multiple disciplines must converge to produce novel sensors and/or sensing systems of multiple modalities that are adaptable to different environments and collect data and report on a wide range of chemical, biological and physical parameters. This type of approach will also be necessary to develop next generation soil models, wireless communication and cyber systems capabilities, and to grow a scientific community that is able to address complex problems through education and outreach. This program fosters collaboration among the partner agencies and the researchers they support by combining resources and funding for the most innovative and high-impact projects that address their respective missions.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computation and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will expand the horizons of these critical systems. CPS technologies are transforming the way people interact with engineered systems, just as the Internet has transformed the way people interact with information. New, smart CPS drive innovation and competition in a range of application domains including agriculture, aeronautics, building design, civil infrastructure, energy, environmental quality, healthcare and personalized medicine, manufacturing, and transportation. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence with CPS creates new research opportunities with major societal implications.

The goal of this Activity is to increase agricultural productivity and income generation among small-holder farmers.

The Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans Program provides grants to non-profits to increase the number of military veterans gaining knowledge and skills through comprehensive, hands-on and immersive model farm and ranch programs offered regionally that lead to successful careers in the food and agricultural sector. The program encourages the development of training opportunities specifically designed for military veterans. AgVets projects will offer onsite, hands-on training and classroom education leading to a comprehensive understanding of successful farm and ranch operations and management practices.

The Miami Initiative for Advancing, Mentoring and Investing in Women (M.I.A.M.I. WOMEN) awarded nearly $104,000 in Giving Circle grants to students and faculty during the annual Leadership Symposium on April 12, 2018. Finalists pitched their projects the previous evening at the inaugural Hawk Tank event. This grant fund is open again for the 2018-2019 cycle.